My new rescue pig, Jet, has a large bald spot on his hindquarters, quite low down (not his grease gland). It&acute;s about an inch in diameter and looks like a bit like a healing cut or bite. The skin in the middle is red and &acute;new&acute; looking. It didn&acute;t appear to be painful for him when I bathed it in warm salt water. Could this be ringworm? I&acute;ve having a bit of trouble trying to open the Emergency Medical Guide so can&acute;t look up the symptoms at the moment.

He was living on his own in a wire cage (before I got him) and he&acute;s in quarantine at the moment. Otherwise, he seems fine and healthy, eating well and running around.

I&acute;m wondering if something could have taken a chomp out of him at his old home (I&acute;ve only had him for about a week) or whether he has a fungal infection. This is the only bald spot on him. Any advice would be very gratefully received.

I trust you will have been able to read the Guinea Lynx info by now. Always a chance mites are involved too. One way to cover all bases is to first give a bath using Nizoral shampoo then treat with ivermectin.

Thanks for your help - I have bought the Nizoral shampoo today and will shampoo Jet and disinfect his cage. I&acute;m planning a vet visit for him anyway in a couple of days, for general health check and to get some ivermectin, so I&acute;ll ask for a culture to be done.

Thank God for quarantine! I have 7 other pigs and more on the way - imagine having to shampoo them all, not to mention treat myself!

Quick update - shampooed Jet today. The bald spot has lost some of the redness. I&acute;m actually inclined to believe that it IS a healing cut but I&acute;m not taking any chances! I disinfected his cage and all the things in it too.

Never believe that guinea pigs can&acute;t jump. Jet jumped out of the sink! The walls of the sink are over a foot high! Luckily he jumped into me and I caught him. He&acute;s looking very shiny now after his shampoo, so he should be as the Nizoral bottle says "with deep conditioning"!

Don&acute;t worry, E, I was planning to ivermectin him this week and give him a spray for lice too. Covering all bases! And thanks for the nice words. He&acute;s a lovely pig - I&acute;m glad I was able to give him a home.